Do you know the problem in which Grupo Aval is involved?

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In recent days the financial group Aval, has been involved in different scandals. In LatinAmerican Post we tell you more about it

Grupo Aval and its connection with Odebrecht

Since everything related to the Odebrecht case in Latin America became known, important political figures have been accused of corruption. Colombia is not exempt from it, because in recent weeks it has become talk of the interventions of this Brazilian company made in the country, thanks to the former auditor of the Ruta de Sol Jorge Enrique Pizano.

Leer en español: Conozca los detalles del problema en el que está metido el Grupo Aval

The stories of the irregularities of the case came to light and in them, Pizano said that the Attorney General of the Nation, Néstor Humberto Martínez, knew since 2015, the irregularities of Odebrecht. But what does the Aval Group have to do in this whole scenario? Well, the Ruta del Sol is a road that connects Bogotá with the Atlantic Coast for less time and that, by its size, was divided IGNORE INTO three. This is where section II becomes important given that its construction " was granted to a consortium led by Odebrecht and financed by Corficolombiana, whose majority shareholder is Grupo Aval, owned by Luis Carlos Sarmiento Ángulo", as reported by The Colombian.

Given this, the Superintendence and Industry and Commerce (SIC) charged charges for "use of charges" to companies such as Corficolombiana SA, Episol SA, and Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA, according to Colprensa. On the other hand, the Department of Justice of the United States opened an investigation after the death of key witnesses. In a statement, the Aval Group stated that it "takes this and any other government investigation that may arise very seriously."

The first sanctions

The Superior Administrative Court of Cundinamarca, ruled in favor of the action proposed by attorney Fernando Carrillo in 2017, according to Semana "the ruling declared the definitive suspension of the Concession Contract No. 001 of 2010 of Ruta del Sol". Thus, Odebrecht, Corficolombiana, and Solarte will have to compensate the country with a sum of 800,000 million pesos. In addition, the multinational may not have contracts with Colombian entities for 10 years.

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The mess between Duque, Aval, and the Ad hoc Prosecutor

In addition to the above, it was recently announced that Banco de Bogotá, part of Grupo Aval, financed 66% of the presidential campaign of Iván Duque. The bank made a loan of 15,000 million colombian pesos so that the current president had a budget in both the first and second rounds.
The International Institute of Anti-Corruption Studies, and who released the figures, said in the document submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice that there is a conflict of interest with the list of Ad Hoc Prosecutors presented by Iván Duque.

"The President of the Republic, whose campaign was the beneficiary of at least three loans granted by Banco de Bogotá, a financial entity of the Aval Group – Luis Carlos Sarmiento Angulo – has just nominated three candidates to occupy the Supreme Court of Justice the position of Ad Hoc Prosecutor, whose function will be to investigate crimes committed by politicians, officials, and agents and administrators of Odebrecht and of the investment vehicles used by the Aval Group for the development and financing of Ruta del Sol projects".

This entity also affirms that the chosen Ad Hoc Prosecutor will not be able to do his job well, since the nominees do not have the necessary experience and "a direct way is opened for impunity to prevail in investigations". For the institute, the solution lies in dissolving the current list and proposing 9 new candidates.

However, despite the letter, Leonardo Espinosa was selected to serve as Ad Hoc Prosecutor. Espinosa was dean of Sergio Arboleda University, has experience in teaching and university research, and is "personal friend of Andrés Duque, brother of the current president," as Caracol Radio recalls.

Stocks and profits on the floor

Since the end of November, the shares of the Aval Group showed a significant drop after the Odebrecht investigations. Because of these, several investors decided not to invest in them, as La República says. In addition, the shares of Corficolombiana presented their lowest levels with 8.4%. Week highlights that "in the run of 2018 has fallen about 21 percent, and something similar has happened to the action of the Bank of Bogota"

With respect to the above, another big loser is Luis Carlos Sarmiento, owner of the Aval group. According to Bloomberg, Sarmiento has lost more than 1,000 million in the wake of the Odebrecht scandal.

LatinAmerican Post | Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

Translated from "Conozca los detalles del problema en el que está metido el Grupo Aval"